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Where Has the Old Rhetoric Gone?December 29, 2013 It used to be that you could find fun, original rhythm game simfile packs featuring a reasonable difficulty spread all over the place. There was a large number of stepartists who took the time to create all five difficulties for their works, including banners and backgrounds. The stepcharts themselves felt fun, and gimmicks were pleasing when they occurred because they were fewer and further between, and were thus more special, as well as fitting the songs they were in. Unfortunately, nowadays, most stepartists concentrate exclusively on exorbitantly challenging charts, don't like to write more than a single Expert-level chart, dislike making banners, and overuse gimmicks, occasionally in songs gimmicks don't feel like they belong in. A few have even somehow sublimed into thinking it's acceptable to write five charts whose difficulties are all 10 or above, which I find not only to be completely unacceptable because some less-observant newbies see only difficulty names and not numbers, but also insulting to the concept of introducing newbies to our favorite long-standing type of tap-to-music gaming. So what has happened to the old charting rhetoric? I could count for you on one hand the number of places I know of that one can depend on for what has decidedly become simfiles possessing the “old charting rhetoric.” More independent stepartists are joining the dark side every day, claiming it's easier to write a single ludicrous chart, especially with recent emphasis on 16th note stream charts that are so easy to write. Since they only write one chart each, their lack of love shows, since the sims seldom seem to be given banners or backgrounds, citing that it's “too much effort.” This is sad. Firstly, because newbies have less and less unofficial charts they can play and expect to pass. Secondly, because I know there used to be a far more prolific love for the rhetoric I still follow. I have literally watched it decline and devolve into what independent stepartistry has become today. In addition, somewhere along the way, the concept of what made a stepartist popular has changed. Now you evidently need to write a themed pack - preferably comprised exclusively of difficult songs – in order to be recognized by your average hardcore player. This is clearly the case, as these sorts of packs are found in great abundance – including artist-themed packs such as “Dragonforce,” “Rhapsody,” and “Kamelot,” as well as non-artist-themed packs like “Fast Track to Brutetown” and the series I can no longer stand to even download new iterations of, the Tachyon series. Even official packs are largely ignored now for these sorts of things because they simply aren't difficult enough to slake the hardcore player's thirst for the next song that challenges them to push their limits. Somewhere along the way, high-level rhythm gaming became about nearly killing yourself at the arcade, or making your fingers or arms hurt when playing StepMania at home, focusing only on passing that new insanely difficult pack. These players will lie to you and tell you that “fun” is still a major factor, when I know the truth: there's no way they're playing for fun anymore. They just want to be able to say they cleared another 15+ foot song. This is not a bad thing in and of itself, but it has become the focus of play, to the exclusion of all else. It is what this subset of rhythm games has become about, and most stepartists have merely decided to roll with it. While I see no problem with giving the hardcore what they want, as they are part of the demographic too (and spend more time and money on the game than the newbies, for certain), far too many stepartists are choosing to cater only to them. The newbies and intermediates are forgotten. If you can't pass anything 12+ feet in difficulty, you cannot play the vast majority of songs in most independent stepartists' packs today, so it's not even an option for those players to download such packs. I do know of a few artists who are trying to give low-level Expert players songs that are easier to clear; there exist packs such as “Easy as Pie” and the “Piece of Cake” series. However, although these manage to go down to 9 feet in most cases, and I can appreciate these more, given that they still place focus on Expert level, they still fail – if only on principle of what they are – to include anything under 9 feet in difficulty; newbies and most intermediate players still cannot play these packs. Worse yet, these hard charts are getting even harder. After “In The Groove” introduced the world to the concept of it being okay for charts to be harder than 10 feet (ITG and ITG2 went up to 13) – which, had the situation remained under control, would have been a good thing – charts have progressively gained more and more difficulty; despite official packs (as far as I am aware) presently still not exceeding 15 feet in difficulty – and thankfully only sparingly as ITG 12- and 13-footers had done – some packs have even broken the TWENTY-foot limit; the recent entries in the Tachyon series are especially offending here, with multiple 21s (and perhaps even 22s by now; I don't care to find out) in their offerings. When it comes down to official charts for 4-arrow rhythm games, only Konami (“Dance Dance Revolution” series) can claim full formality anymore, thanks to them getting intellectual property on and therefore halting official production of the “In The Groove” series; ITG3's simfile pack had to be released under the table for free with no arcade cabinets or actual game discs for home consoles. ITG's formal death then sparked the In The Groove Rebirth project, which has thankfully seen a sequel in In The Groove Rebirth 2. Still, the words “official charts” don't mean much to hardcore players anymore, given that GrooveStats now also caters to them, allowing score-tracking for many of the more difficult unofficial packs. Even quad-star (perfect 100% scores) counts on easier songs has mostly become a thing of the past, instead being replaced by who has the best of what used to be considered crappy scores on harsher songs – even getting a 100% on a 13 means nothing anymore. So when a newbie essentially asks me “Where do unofficial simfiles that follow the old rhetoric come from?,” I'm forced to give a much shorter answer than I used to be able to. It depresses me that I share my rhetoric with an ever-dwindling number of allies. There's my own website, Ace Of Hearts Simfiles, there's r21Freak's collaboration projects (even many r21Freak members still mostly write only Expert-level charts when not collaborating, but I must give credit where it is due), which I know are extremely good quality, and I believe Otaku's Dream is still producing old-rhetoric simfile packs (I promise one day soon, possibly the very day I release this article, that I am going to check up on them). I can't count databases such as Houkuonchi or DivinElegy in this, as they merely act as no-checks all-inclusive databanks to download any pack you can imagine. As you can imagine, as long as I have been playing rhythm games in general, I have learned to accept that some things change – and some things do change for the better; new types of arrows or tails get released, such as StepMania 4 and 5's Lifts and Fakes, and the engine sees useful fixes and updates. I also believe it is only natural for skilled players to desire more challenges, and higher levels of technicality in the stepcharts they play. The advents of bracket-stomping and footswitch have enabled stepartists an even wider array of options in how to approach writing a stepchart. I respect that, and have myself started using those elements in charts that I deem I should put them in, as I believe strongly in modernization. Unfortunately, amidst all of the concentration on new techniques and pumping out challenges, the focus has shifted from all-inclusive to concentrating on existing hardcore players; the newbies and as-yet unskilled players have been all but – or even entirely – left out of the equation by most stepartists. They have drifted away from “fun” and have replaced their reason to play with “challenging.” Charts rated 8 feet and under simply do not exist anymore to players possessing significant skill, and thus the mindset has transferred to stepartists as well. I state on my website that this new rhetoric is something I want to avoid adopting at all necessary costs. This is probably why Ace Of Hearts Simfiles remains unpopular relative to places you can download the simfiles of highly-acclaimed A-list names such as Cosmic Pope or Mad Matt. I have never been one to follow a trend due to general overall popularity; I have always enjoyed introducing newbies to the concept of rhythm gaming, and lately, doing so has led me to do it more strongly due to my love of rooting for the underdog – which is what the concept of newbie integration into the dance game community has become. As long as most are focused on providing insane difficulty to existing players who seek only to challenge themselves, I don't care if my website doesn't gain any additional notoriety from them – in fact, I'd prefer if it didn't. That's not the audience I am seeking anyway. I don't want only to write charts that take days to finish and that only those who bring a towel and a gallon of water to their play sessions can claim to enjoy. Somewhat because this is already covered by the majority of stepartists anyway – I don't need to join their already-large group prerogative – but also because, as crazy as it appears to be to said players and stepartists, I still believe in bringing in new players. It honestly doesn't matter to me anymore that those who concentrate perpetually on challenging themselves don't play my charts. My charts aren't written for the express thought of offering a challenge. My charts are written to cater to those who want to get on the stage to seek an entertaining experience. I am happy with merely being able to say I run one of the few remaining websites – however modest it is – that actually still focus primarily or exclusively on a fun, newbie-friendly mindset. I thus know for a fact I have one thing I can definitively wave over today's typical stepartist's head – while you're out there catering mostly to players who are closer to growing older and being unable to play dance games anymore due to real-life issues or simply becoming unable to keep up due to their age, I am busy trying to ensure the survival of the genre in general by bringing in more brand-new players. In the future, without artists like me, you won't HAVE a demographic to cater to; your websites will roller-coaster in popularity, and when yours are experiencing a drought because new players are needed, guess where they'll be going for their simfiles? Guess who you'll have to thank when it all comes down to what you've forgotten? It will once again come down to official charts, and those few unofficial stepartists who still remember that enticing new faces to join the fray is just as important – no, after all is said and done, perhaps even more important – than making sure existing players are happy. When I say my website is “The Website of the Stepartist of Love Power,” I mean every word of it. You can bask in your glory bath, all your fame for writing your nigh-impossible stepcharts; I'll be quite satisfied over here in my little niche making sure potential new players and less skilled regulars have a place they can go to download simfiles they can actually pass and have fun playing – working to preserve the longevity of the community and doing my best to remind others of where our ideals used to lie – where I believe they should still lie. It's easy to get caught up in offering what existing players want, because you know you'll succeed. Reaching out to potentials is harder, because you can be certain of nothing. It is easy not to bother, and grow smug with what you know you have. But unless someone reaches out today, we will have no new regulars tomorrow. Aside from my love of my niche, I realize that my position is extremely valuable – especially because not many others share it. The answer is, the old rhetoric is still there, but it has been greatly overshadowed. The hardcore players and stepartists have neglected it and left it behind to cry in the corner. It cries, but they don't listen – they can't listen, because they can't see it anymore. But it's not alone. There are a precious few of us, myself included, who can still see it, have deigned to join it in its corner, and do our best to tell it that it is loved. If this article ends up causing even one hardcore stepartist to write a single chart 8 feet or below – caused them to see the old rhetoric again – then it has gotten us one small step closer to fully helping the old rhetoric back to its feet, so it can stand properly on its own once more. ♦David “Ace Of Hearts” Bernardini